


A Place She Can Be Safe

by Mayamelissa



Series: The Amazing Adventures Of Nicolette [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition, Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Angst, False Accusations, I love them more than horror movies, Modern Girl in Thedas, She met them in dreams before she came to Thedas, Tags to be added, all da spoilers, fade walking, horror games, nugs are adorable, psychic powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-02
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-04 10:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 19,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5330609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mayamelissa/pseuds/Mayamelissa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a legend that if you dream of something consecutively for over 101 times, it will happen.</p>
<p>Now she's in Thedas and it may be the best thing that has ever happened to her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Is She Crazy?

She’d been dreaming dreams involving Dragon Age Inquisition for the last 101 nights.

But it wasn’t just about the Inquisitor’s path. Occasionally Nicolette would have one where she’d meet and hang out with Solas while wandering about in the Fade or with Varric as he’d read aloud from one of his books for her. Cullen had been having a lyrium withdrawal induced panic attack so she’d soothe him. The dreams involving the characters and things specifically with them always made her heart swell with joy.

Nicolette was staring into her white hot chocolate, her normally cheerful mood replaced by a deeply thoughtful one.

“Are the dreams frightening?” The voice pulling Nicolette from her thoughts.

Shaking her head. “No, they’re my normal lucid dreams but they’ve all involved Dragon Age in some way or form.”

“And did you stop playing the games completely?” The woman said raising her eyebrow slightly.

Nicolette nodded. “Yes. After the first 3 nights, I cut myself off from it. No reading lore, no games, no Youtube videos. I’ve been clean, I even started playing something else to take the focus away. The dreams just got more lucid and real.” 

“It’s been 101 consecutive nights? All involving that… world and it’s inhabitants?” Her case manager said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

She flinched slightly at how much disdain the person beside her used at the word ‘world’. Nicolette had grown close to her dream friends. She actually liked them better than the people around her in the real world. Fantasy was her comfort and shield to protect from the world.

“It’s unfortunate but I’ll have to tell the doctors. It’s not helping you get better.” The manager said, face blank but voice filled disappointment.

She frowned at that. “I’m not sick. How many times do I need to tell you that?!” Nicolette raised her voice slightly.

“Yes, you are! You keep insisting you have psychic abilities and can move things with your mind which was one of the reasons you were brought here in the first place.” The older lady bit back.

Nicolette exhaled deeply, eyes squeezed shut. No matter how many times she showed them, they still claimed she was having hallucinations and what she was seeing and doing wasn’t happening in reality. They lied to her or covered it up. 

And she was permanently going to be here because in spite of good legal representation, a judge had allowed her to remain in the custody of the state even after she’d turned 18.

“We know what’s best for you, Nicolette.” The other woman had said softly.

She made a face but didn’t say a word. “The doctors will probably put you on a new medicine but for now you’re video game privileges are going to be suspended.” 

The young woman looked up at them horrified. “But why?!” Nicolette cried.

“Because they’re doing nothing to help you.”

“They’re the only time I feel happy! You can’t do that!” 

The woman near her frowned and motioned towards a pair of orderlies. “Take her to her room and then remove her gaming paraphernalia.” she had said with no emotion.

Two pair of rough hands grabbed her and Nicolette began to struggle against them. “This isn’t fair!” she shouted. “You can’t take my games away! I earned them! They’re mine!” She yelled louder, voice filled with tears.

“Stop struggling before you hurt yourself,” one of the orderlies ordered and she shook her head as they dragged her down the hall. 

“No! You can’t take my property away and you have no right to restrain me when I didn’t do anything wrong!” Nicolette cried louder, still struggling against them.

One of the overhead florescent lights exploded and the other orderly cursed. “I thought they’d fixed that. Don’t make us drug you again!”

“Let me go!”

Another light exploded and they pinned her down on the floor. “Okay, now you’re going to get the needle,” the first orderly exclaimed. “Nurse!”

“You people are evil! I don’t deserve this! Don’t take my games away!” Nicolette begged as she fought tears.

She howled and screamed and cried but they didn’t listen. Again. Like Cullen said, no one ever listens until it’s too late.

Several hours later, Nicolette woke up to a throbbing headache and found herself back in one of the quiet rooms: a large hollow room with concrete walls painted white, short red carpet and a heavy iron door as the only way in or out.

They must have decided to throw her in there after dosing her up while they took her things out of her room.

She padded over to the door and pushed on it. Locked. She banged on the door trying to get attention in spite of how she knew they wouldn’t notice until someone came to get her. Never let it be said she wasn’t easily deterred.

Sighing, she looked up at a corner of the ceiling to the camera that was nestled in a protective dome. “You guys are mean and cruel!” she said to whoever was watching. “And I’m gonna use my powers to open the door again, just like I did last time!” She has said angrily.

“Just sit down and behave yourself, Nicolette,” came a calm monotone voice over the loudspeaker in the ceiling.

“I was behaving myself and you guys knocked me out and threw me in here!”

No response. They must have shut off her audio so they wouldn’t have to hear her speak. “Butt-heads and jerks,” she muttered, turning her focus back on the door. Her stomach growled, making her cringe. She probably should sit down and wait but she was hungry. They’d put her on a diet despite she didn’t need to be on one.

Suspected of binge and purging, they’d claimed. No evidence but it made it impossible for her to get seconds or thirds from the cafeteria and snacks had been culled from her daily agenda as well.

She was sure they were doing everything they could to make it so she couldn’t use her powers. Drugs hadn’t worked. If anything the medications they’d tried putting her on only strengthened her lack of control. Sleep deprivation had performed in a similar way except she’d nearly caused 2 people to nearly get killed.

Now controlling her food intake was their weapon of choice to put her in line.

“Hey, God? Maker? Thalos? Cthulhu, even? If you can hear me, I know you don’t really listen to me a lot but I really need some help. I don’t know why you think I should be here but please… Please let me get somewhere better than this. They took my stuff away and I’m hungry-” 

“Sit in the corner and behave yourself, Nicolette,” came the voice on the loudspeaker. 

“I’m talking to God right now! Don’t you people have any manners?!” she hissed back. Looking back up at the ceiling, she sighed as she turned her back. “Please get me out of here and somewhere safe, Lord. I can only dream so much and reality is horrible. Amen.”

She took a deep breath and then went to the wall, glancing up at the horrible little light situated in the middle of the ceiling. “Break,” she commanded and beneath the globe, the bulb shattered. The room became bathed in darkness and she curled up in the corner.


	2. Can Lucid Dreams Go Wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts are in italic.
> 
> Sorry if in game dialogue bothers anyone. But I like some of it. And I have to use it, y'know?
> 
> Junnesejer drew Nicky! Isn't she beautiful?

 

She’d never dreamed of starting in the Temple of Sacred Ashes before.

Definitely hadn’t dreamed of entering the room where Divine was about to be killed by Coryphaeus in his attempts to unlock the orb.

Grabbing Solas’, excuse her, Fen'Harel’s foci and feeling pain like she’d never felt before? Yeah, that was also new.

She should have woken up after feeling that kind of pain. _Should_ have. However this particular lucid dream was hard to get out of.

Hence why she was kneeling on the floor of the prison in Haven, surrounded by about 5 men pointing swords at her.

Now this part she had dreamed of before. Well at least some parts were still acting like game canon. The anchor flared up on her hand and she cried out, waving her shackled limbs up and down. “Owie! Ow ow ow ow ow!”

The door burst opened and like clockwork Leliana and Cassandra entered the room. Nicolette readied herself for the story dialogue. “Leave us,” the Seeker ordered the soldiers. They obeyed and left her alone with the two. Weird but Nicolette wasn’t too worried. There was bound to be some deviation in her dreams. The two women looked at her with unreadable expressions once the guards were gone.

“What have you done, Nicolette?” Cassandra said.

Okay, that was definitely new. Cassandra didn’t seem as pissed off as she normally should be. Her voice was tinged with harshness, desperation and sadness, not the anger it was meant to have. _This dream is really odd._

“The Conclave is destroyed. Everyone is dead. Except for you.”

Good, back to familiar territory. Too bad the earlier sentence had her feeling a little more apprehensive to speaking up. Cassandra grabbed her left hand. “Explain this. What is it? How did you get it on you?”

More dialogue changes? She knows it’s a dream but even then her treks into the storyline never had those. Of course those usually happened every 10 dreams. Like clockwork. Or it had been. Now she was even more confused.

She opened her mouth but the words failed to come out. Cassandra grabbed her by her shoulders, her grip not violent but firm and unyielding all the same. “You need to tell us now!” she insisted giving Nicolette a small shake.

_This is wrong_. As much as she liked Cassandra concerned and seeming to care about her, the obvious shift in the atmosphere was enough to frighten Nicolette. “What’s going on?” she squeaked. “I don’t understand!”

“Do you recall anything that happened?” Leliana asked. Her tone was normal. Nicolette scrambled to recall her lines. “Things were chasing me. Um, I was in a large foggy place. Then I saw a glowing lady who was reaching out to me.”

“A glowing lady?” Lelaina parroted in disbelief. Oh dear. She was supposed to say a woman reached out to her, wasn’t she?

“Go to the forward camp, Leliana. I must take her to the rift.”

The redhead left and Cassandra unlocked the iron bar with a frown. “I know you won’t run but I have to bind you until we leave the front gate,” the warrior told her as she wrapped ropes around the younger woman’s wrists.

“You’re acting weird, Cassandra,” Nicolette stated. Cassandra reached up and tucked a loose pieces of platinum blonde hair behind the prisoner’s ear. Her were mournfully eyes sad with a matching smile. “What’s going on?” Nicolette asked in a firmer tone, confusion hammering in her chest. “It… It will be easier to show you. I am just sad that you have finally reappeared in front of me and it is under _these_ conditions.” Cassandra sighed.

_Reappeared in front of her?!_

The blonde swallowed at the lump forming in her throat. This is so wrong. This whole exchange… It couldn’t be more out of place than if Cassandra was kissing her on the lips. Nicolette was certain neither one of them swung like that but all in all this whole event was surreal and different from any previous ones.

Cassandra helped her to her feet and began escorting her outside. Nicolette shielded her eyes as she adjusted to the change in light and looked around.

“We call it the Breach…”


	3. Not Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not really new but definitely improved version brought to you through the editing magic of Junnesejer.

Whatever abilities Nicolette had thought she had? She had barely scratched the surface. Lucid dreaming with ease? Psychic powers? Tip of the iceberg. 

A rather hilarious pun right now since she’d just created a demon Popsicle, which when she tapped it to test how solid it was shattered into a hundred pieces. She’d just totally KO'd the fighting tutorial shade.

_ Nice job, Nicolette _ , she applauded herself happily. Except she was about to get yelled at by Cassandra.  _ Happiness diminished. _

“Are you injured?” the Seeker asked. Nicolette shook her head. “I had to grab a staff for protection,” the platinum hair female explained, holding out her weapon. Cassandra nodded in understanding. “You will need it to defend yourself. As much as I would prefer to think I could escort you without incident, I know better.”

She’s not gonna tell her to disarm? “So I can keep it?” Nicolette asked hesitantly. Cassandra slid her sword back into its sheathe. “Unless you managed to succeed in learning how to fight with a sword or daggers in the last year since we saw each other.”

“A year?” she echoed in shock. Cassandra nodded. “This time it was. Come, we must hurry. Take these healing potions… You will need them.”

Nicolette nodded absentmindedly. The last time she dreamed of interacting with her, she’d spent caring for a very ill Cassandra. Nicolette had procured a copy of Swords and Shields, reading it out loud in funny voices and playing nursemaid. Who knew someone could vomit so much? And with nothing but broth in their stomach too.

“I hope you don’t have any plans on getting sick like that again,” Nicolette spoke. Cassandra’s face darkened with some strange unspoken emotion that caused Nicolette to stare at her worriedly. “Cassandra?”

“I will tell you later.”

They reached the area where the rift was. Events played out as they were supposed to: she helps kills demons. Solas grabs her hand. Together they seal the rift.

Then things went from weird and unscripted to just plain what is happening right now?

“What did you just do?”

He smiled at her with a shake of his head. “I did nothing, da’len. Once again the credit is yours.”

“So you remember me too?” she asked tentatively. The last time she’d interacted with Solas, she’d been solving puzzles while he and Wisdom watched her. He nods. “I wasn’t sure it was you before now. This is the first time I have seen you outside the Fade.”

“I just wish it wasn’t happening with the world trying to end.”

“Don’t we all,” Varric piped in, walking over to them. “Seriously, Nicky, how do you manage to show up in the strangest ways?”

“I don’t know!” she declared in a flabbergasted whine. “All this time I thought I was having lucid dreams and none of this was real! Even with all this happening I’m scared I’m going to wake up still locked in the quiet room.”

“You were locked up?”

Cassandra’s tone had gotten harsher at that question. Nicolette bit her bottom lip. “I’ll explain later. We need to get to forward camp.”

Apparently him knowing Nicolette automatically caused the whole Cassandra not wanting Varric to come as backup conversation null and void. Which was kind of disappointing since she liked it when he gave the Seeker that adorable look.

They headed through the valley, fighting wraiths and shades. Although she wasn’t out of shape and had presumably good amounts of stamina, Nicolette found herself almost exhausted by the time they sealed the second rift.

“You okay?”

She nodded while she tried to catch her breath. “Just not used to doing this,” she gasped between breaths. “I won’t let you guys down!” She gave him a thumbs up.

“Once we speak to Leliana,” Cassandra announced, “we shall get you some better equipment before we head to the Temple. That should give you a few minutes of rest.”

Nicolette doubted that just a bit. Chancellor Roderick in the game had a tendency to aggravate her. And she hadn’t had any non-au dreams involving him. The blond took in a deep breath to calm her nerves.

_ Let’s get this over with. _


	4. At the Forward Camp

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Junnesejer is my beta mastermind on here.

Chancellor Roderick was even more aggravating in person than in the game. Which was not surprising. After all game Roderick was scripted. This guy was real life Roderick.

_ Oh no. There were times I wanted to pull my hair out when I talked to him in the game.  _ And that was during set times in the game.  _ I’m gonna be running into this guy all over Haven more than likely! _

That brought her to thinking about resource gathering and possibly having to kill nugs for their skins, which led to her completely blanking out on the conversation between Leliana, Roderick, and Cassandra until her hand lit up like a firecracker and she cringed and held her wrist.

“How do you think we should proceed?”

Was she ever glad she’s played this game so many times. “If we charge with the soldiers there’s a higher chance of casualties. Order them to retreat to and protect the forward camp so we can take the mountain path. With any luck we can still save some of the scouts up there.”

Cassandra nodded and Nicolette hoped her explanation had kept her approval rating from lowering. _ Stop that, Nicolette, _ she chastised.  _ They’re real people now. Stop thinking in terms of the game. _ Cassandra ushered her over to where the troop supplies were and they picked her out some light armor and boots.

“I didn’t even realize I was wearing these!” Nicolette declared as she fastened the light armor over her institute issued white long sleeve shirt and pants. It was a good thing she’d been wearing sneakers when she had her meeting with the social worker before all this went down or she’d have been barefooted.

_ Thank you off days! _

The boots they had available were a size too large for her, but she would make do. After all, it was only until they got through and she closed the rift inside the temple. Then she would be unconscious for 3 days… straight…

Oh no.

That would give her spirit or whatever, would kept it going between worlds ample opportunity to return back there. The other world. She felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. Even if she was being killed by the mark on her hand, she felt better here than she had in a long time and for the first time she felt she was someplace good.

“Whoa! You okay kid? You look like you’re gonna faint on us,” Varric exclaimed, putting his hand on her arm. He looked incredibly concerned at her face, which had paled. She inhaled deeply. “I’m not okay. But I can do this.” She squeezed his hand and shot him a warm smile. “I’m really happy I got to see you guys like this. No matter what happens, you guys are the most amazing people and I’m glad I wasn’t just dreaming after all!” Nicolette said beaming.

Her companions stared at her, shocked by her words. “Don’t worry, Nicky. We’re gonna make it out alive. And I’ll buy you a nice mug of cider at the Singing Maiden as congratulations.”

“Why cider?” Solas asked, eyebrow slightly raised.

“Because once I tried drinking with them in Kirkwall and it ended up badly,” Nicolette said, holding back as much laughter as possible.


	5. Snow & Rifts & Hugs Goodbye

Snow was rough to walk in.

Nicolette had unfortunately gotten over her wonder of the powder and was now starting to dislike it. Which made her sad because snow reminded her of Christmas and hot chocolate and cookies.

She grabbed a handful of snow in order to numb the throbbing pain in her marked hand. _ I will not send a glare to Solas even though this is technically his fault, _ she reminded herself. Well actually it was the Evanuris’ fault since they killed Mythal. He was still gonna get it though. No matter what, she vowed, if she did in fact wake up after closing the first rift 3 days later in Haven, she was going to have to have a talk with him. There had to be other ways to restore the elves or something beside destroying the world.

“How you doing, Nicky?” Varric asked.

“I’m thirsty and tired and scared that after we get done at the Temple I’m gonna be back in the world I come from,” she quickly blurted out. With a grimace she apologized. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Hey, I asked. You answered. And it’s good to see you still say the first thing that comes to your mind,” the dwarf said with a reassuring smile. “Besides we’re almost there.”

He was right. They’d saved the surviving scouts, closed the rift marking the halfway point to the Temple, and the large green wall brought to them by the Conclave’s explosion. She had to stop and stare at the rather horrific beauty that it held once you saw it in real life.

Also those bodies were so burned and marred by magical energy, there was no smell. The sight was just as impressive but in a far more these were real people who died horrifically kind of way. From the looks of them, they’d felt it as well. That thought made her run to a corner and throw up even worse than if there’d been a smell of charred flesh.

“I’m sorry,” she said weakly as Cassandra gave her a bottle with something in it to drink. The Seeker shook her head. “It is fine. This sight is-”

“Yeah.”

Nicolette downed the bottle’s contents which tasted like cherry flavored cough syrup (a taste she actually enjoyed) quickly. Making a brave face, she put up her fists in a fake fighting stance. “Let’s go save the world,” she proclaimed.

They made it to the spot overlooking the explosion’s epicenter. “The Breach is a long way up,” Varric and Nicolette said in unison. He chuckled, she giggled. “This rift is the first,” Solas informed them. “If you seal it, you might seal the Breach.”

“If things continue to surprise me,” Nicolette stated. Oh Jiminy Cricket that would be some storyline skip if she did seal the Breach here and now. Although the universe might explode or worse things could have happened other than Corypheus if it did. She shuddered to think what horrors besides a darkspawn ancient magister with aspirations to become a deity could come about. Maybe the Sixth Blight?

_ Oh please don’t. These people have enough problems.  _ Nicolette cringed slightly at the thought.

“Hey, before we go down there and close that thing, I wanna hug you guys. Just in case.”

Cassandra looked at her. “Is this really the time?” she asked. Okay she liked her but she was still Cassandra. There were just some things she had to say and some ways she had to act. Nicolette nodded fervently. “Like I said, I don’t know if I’ll go back or stay here. And I don’t know when or if I’ll come back. But I’m not gonna give up a chance to give you guys a hug!” 

Varric was naturally first one to get hugs. Because why would she not hug the nicest guy in the group first? she reasoned. “Keep writing and if Hawke gets in touch with you, tell her I said hi.”

Next Cassandra. The Seeker may have spoken with her natural harsh tone but she accepted the embrace and even returned it. “You be nice to Varric. I know you’re angry with him but you need to mellow out. You keep acting like this and I’ll start shipping the two of you mercilessly.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” came the flat reply. Nicolette grinned chuckling slightly. “Oh I’ll ship you two. I’ll ship you good!”

Solas surprised her by stepping forward and hugging her before she could do it to him. “Dareth shiral, ‘ma falon. May you return quickly and unharmed if we should truly be separated.”

_ Aw, Solas called me his friend. I would perform a happy dance but now is not the time! _

“Don’t go doing anything foolish until I get back. This,” she motioned towards the Breach wildly, “is bad enough! I don’t wanna come back only to find you wandered off so far with your studies you got lost! You’re a very intense man.”

He chuckled at her words. “As you wish.”

“Good,” she nodded with a smile. “Now let’s go do this thing so we can get back to Haven where it’s warm! I’m starting to think I don’t like the cold and snow. At least for prolonged periods of time.”


	6. Boss Battles Suck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Betas make everything better

That Pride Demon was massive.

He was huge and scary and his laugh was even worse here than in the game. “How the heck am I supposed to disrupt the rift long enough to have him lose his armor?!” Nicolette shrieked as she just barely dodged a lightning whip attack from the demon.

Now Shades were coming out. It was like when she tried to play the game on nightmare once. She threw an electric charge from her staff at a shade and retreated a few steps backwards. 

There was no way she was going to be able to disrupt the rift and save everyone at this rate!

“Look out, Nicky!” One of her companions called as The pride demon let loose a electricity ball hitting the ground next to her, throwing her to the ground and giving her a very painful jolt. Nicolette howled in pain, barely having any time to block a shade’s swipe with her staff.

A sickening crack filled her ears as she watched the weapon break in half. “You’ve gotta be kidding me!” she screamed. Her head started pounding and everything felt like it was slowing down. It like one of those scenes in the movies. She closed her eyes as the pressure in her head grew to intolerable levels. “THIS IS NOT HAPPENING!” Nicolette screamed louder.

It was hard to tell what exactly happened next. The two Shades who were about to attack her but flew away like incinerating rag dolls. A jolt of magic from her marked hand caused a secondary temporary rift opened up which sucked in any surrounding demonic entities other than the Pride Demon.

She heard her friends call her name.

That was about all she could comprehend before she blacked out.


	7. A Nope Train in the Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicolette accidentally goes to the Chuck E Cheese from hell before continuing our story. I have no idea what possessed me to do this but it worked.

“Hello? Hello?”

Nicolette bolted to her feet and looked around quickly. She was in an office? That can’t be right. And it was dark. And there were monitors. “Uh I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night.”

She stared at the answering machine on the desk as she listened to the frighteningly familiar audio track. “Oh you gotta be kidding me!” she shouted. She hit the mute button, knowing what Phone Guy was going to tell her. “No, no, I did not sign up for this!” she muttered frantically as she checked the touchpad to see where the animatronics were.

They were all in their places and she kept the camera on the stage as she looked around for something, anything she could use to defend herself with. “Let me be fired, I don’t give a rat’s butt!!!” she swore. “I will burn this place down!”

The lights and power suddenly shut down and she froze like a deer in the headlights. A creepy small child’s giggle. The notes of Freddy’s music box theme song. She didn’t dare turn around as her heart hammered in her chest.

“Go away, please,” she whispered, holding her hands against her head terrified. 

That horrible screeching mangled child’s scream rang through the air as her own high pitched one joined it as everything went black.

~( ^ 3 ^ )~

Nicolette jumped to a sitting position on the bed, still screaming until she was hoarse as she flailed around. Strong arms grabbed hold of her, causing her to yell at the top of her lungs. “Don’t stick me in an animatronic suit!”

“It’s all right, Nicky: no one’s gonna hurt you!”

The sound of Varric’s voice brought her back to reality (a thought that would make her laugh later) and she blinked. Swallowing hard, she squeaked, “Varric?”

“Hey, yeah… I’m here. You’re okay. Everyone made it back alive and we’re safe in Haven.”

She was shaking like a leaf as the adrenaline started wearing off. The blond girl hugged Varric’s arm tightly as she muttered, “I thought I was gonna wake up back at the hospital at home but I ended up somewhere far worse!”

He soothingly stroked her long platinum blonde hair as he asked, “You woke up somewhere worse than the place you felt was so bad you were giving out your not-normal revenue of hugs for? No wonder you woke up screaming!” he joked lightly.

Fear demons had nothing on some of the horror games she’d played, Nicolette mused while Varric held her until she was calmed down enough. Cassandra burst in, sword drawn. “Nicolette!”

“Cassandra!”

The younger woman scrambled out of the bed and launched herself at the seeker. She hugged her as Cassandra looked at Varric warily. “I thought she was being attacked again,” was her explanation as Nicolette buried her face against Cassandra’s chestplate. It was uncomfortable but the girl didn’t care right now.

“No, just having a nightmare. At least she’s awake though, right?”

“I don’t ever wanna sleep again if that’s the kind of things I’m gonna experience,” Nicolette said. “I’d rather tackle demons and shades and wraiths than deal with freaking Freddie Fazbear and his friends.”

“Who is Freddie Fazbear?” Cassandra asked puzzled. Varric shot the warrior woman an incredulous look. “You honestly want to find out when it’s caused her to go giving out terror hugs? And here I thought you were intelligent.”

“Please don’t start grouching with each other. I’m too happy to be back in Thedas and with you guys to hear the fantastical bickering of Varric Tethras and Cassandra Pentaghast.”

The pair uttered apologies to her and she finally felt safe enough to let go of Cassandra. “Varric said everyone got back safely. What about the Breach?”

“It has been stabilized.”

She let out a long sigh of relief before nodding. Oh good. That meant they weren’t going to have the mother of all storyline skips handed to them after all. “So what now?” she asked moving back to sit on the bed.

“For now you will eat something and rest. When you are ready, come see me in the Chantry. There are some things we need to discuss and people you should meet.”

Eat, yes. Resting up? She wasn’t too sure how much more resting she needed after being asleep for so long and having that little FNaF trip. But still she wasn’t going to object to Cassandra’s plan. The Seeker left and Varric asked, “You gonna be okay in here alone for a bit?”

Nicolette nodded in confirmation them he left. The young woman waited a few minutes, walked to the door and stuck her head outside. She then closed it and went back towards the bed with a smile.

“Yup. We’re good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm evil and I know it.


	8. There's No Real Title For This One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roderick? More like Roder-dick.

“Of course Haven’s a lot bigger in real life,” she muttered to herself as she tried to get her bearings on where she needed to turn to go to the Chantry. There were more cabins and a few tents oh lord the number of people. There were so many of them. Even back in her original world she’d never been around that many.

It was almost enough to give her a panic attack.

But she steeled her herself, not letting fear grip hold of her. That particular demon had had enough of her day. And week. Heck, as far she was concerned it was grounded for a month.

She approached the door to the war room and heard the very loud and angry conversation between Cassandra and Roderick.

“Have you gone completely mad? She should be taken to Val Royeaux immediately, to be tried by whomever becomes the Divine.”

Nicolette stopped just outside the door and listened. It had been a while since she’d listened to this conversation and in spite of herself, she actually wanted to hear it. Even if it did involve Roderick.

“I do not believe she is guilty.”

Nicolette smiled. Those words from Cassandra made her feel even happier. Inwardly she did a little dance. Cassandra likes me!

“The prisoner failed, Seeker.”

Not from any lack of trying on my part! the blonde thought, scrunching her face. He went on about how the Breach was still there in the sky and how she possibly intended it to be this way. She was beginning to formulate an idea that Roderick was merely focusing on her so he didn’t have to deal with more pressing problems. Which actually made sense given how blindly he liked to throw accusations about.

The man needed counseling. Or better worded advice. It was too sad to know he wouldn’t accept her trying to help everyone until he was dying.

Finally the conversation ended and she entered the room. To her surprise Cullen and Josephine were already in there. Another oddity. This was beginning to be quite the thing: people or conversations not scripted to be where they are. She should probably be worried about that.

“Chain her!” Roderick commanded to the guards. “She is to be taken to Val Royeaux and tried!” She looked at the guards who stepped forward, slightly worried. “Belay that order!” Cullen said to the guards. “And leave us.”

Nicolette sighed with relief as they bowed and headed out, closing the door behind them. “You have a real problem with wanting to see people in chains, you know that?” she said to Roderick. He scoffed. “My only problem is seeing justice gets done.”

“It’s hard to see justice done when all you’re concerned with is getting someone easy to blame,” she countered. “I didn’t kill Divine Justinia, she was in the Fade with me…. at least I think she was. That hat is very distinctive. Even on a glowing lady.”

“And yet she is not standing here with us,” the cleric said. “Why should we believe anything you say?” 

“You won’t believe I’m innocent because I’m some strange blonde girl who survived a blast that killed everyone. You don’t believe in miracles, Roderick. You’re too jaded.” He was dead quiet, visibly stunned at her words. “I know you want me to be guilty and a lot of people are behind you. Fortunately, at least I hope anyhow, the only one of them in the room right now is you. Now please, do everybody a favor and do something… I don’t know! But you have to have something useful you can do that won’t involve putting somebody in chains. Or maybe it does. I don’t know your personal life choices and never want to.” She motioned her hands behind her. “People I care about want to speak with me and I really don’t wanna waste time listening to you trying to convince others I need to be executed.”

“You heard the lady,” Cullen said. “Leave.”

“You cannot honestly believe this… woman is innocent!” he sputtered incredulously.

“We do,” Cassandra said in a tone that left no room for argument. Roderick however was still going to try. “So all this is a coincidence?” he asked. “Her survival? The mark upon her hand?!”

“Not coincidence. Providence.”

It was really nice hearing those words in person. Especially when they’re genuinely directed towards you and not just scripted. Finally Chancellor Roderick left with a “this is not finished” muttered under his breath.

“I’m pretty sure he means well but he’s way too determined to have me be the cause of everyone’s sorrows,” Nicolette said to the gathered war leaders. “And unfortunately far too many of the remaining Chantry leaders are going to be following his example and calling for my head.” She sighed and then smiled at them cheerfully. “So,” she began awkwardly, “Who else in this room did I inadvertently meet before I got this thing?” motioning to the mark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I wrote Nicotine instead of Nicolette, someone please let me know where... I will not explain it right here but Nicolette is based off someone who has yet to make an appearance in another work and I keep writing her name instead of Nicolette's and it's ticking me off.


	9. The Filter is Gone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's face it: Cullen became very handsome and Nicolette didn't have much in the way of filtration between mind and mouth as it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter dedicated to SilentSlayer, Junnesejer, and Eltheria. 
> 
> Eltheria because they are usually among the first people to leave me kudos.
> 
> SilentSlayer because they gave me a gift most loving.
> 
> Junnesejer because of the inspirational feedback.

They’d never been dreams. No, not on her end.

Well perhaps the ones where she played through the entire storyline every 10 of them or so but the rest of them? Yeah. With the exception of Leliana, she met all of them in some way or another, at least once. Oh joy. She could not wait to see the reactions of Iron Bull, Vivienne, Dorian, and Sera.

“Okay, so if no one minds I would like to go over this one more time," Nicolette stated. "I have  _ actually _ helped all of you with one exception,” she pointed at Leliana, “at one time or another in your lives completely and totally without knowing it on my end. And not a single one of you are freaking out or demanding I be put in chains?!”

“It would seem that is the case,” Josephine stated.

“Oh I freaking adore every one of you! You’ll get a hug, and you’ll get a hug, and you’ll-” She paused and cocked her head in a nervous way towards Leliana, “probably won’t get a hug unless I know for certain you won’t hurt me. Because you are a scary lady.”

Cullen snorted at Nicolette, who looked at him approvingly. “I have to say, Cullen, you have gotten very attractive!” His face turned red and he looked embarrassed but the blond was too caught up with what she was saying to stop. “I mean you were cute when I first saw you and kind of handsome back in Kirkwall but you look  _ good _ .  _ Definitely _ deserve all the fangirl swooning.”

“Um… I…”

She blinked and realized her words. “Oh, I am so  _ sorry _ ,” she said in horror. “There’s no filter between my brain and mouth and I just- Oh this is so awkward!” She covered her face with her hands as she flushed. “Oh, I am _ never _ gonna live this down. Cassandra, I have a feeling I know why you wanted to speak to me. If it involves my continuing to help the Inquisition in an official capacity and you need me to try and seal the Breach again, my answer is yes. Wholeheartedly. I will come back and make a battle plan of some sort of what we should do later but right now I’m- Jiminy Cricket I have got to learn how to be quiet!”

And with that she quickly left the war room to go back to her cabin.

“Well, she certainly hasn’t changed much,” Josephine stated with a small smile. “I am surprised that she knew us all.”

“Knew most of you. I had never met her before she was put into custody,” Leliana admitted. “Curious.”

“Regardless of who knew her and how she crossed our paths in the past, it is her. At least I believe it to be. And as she has done previous times in my life, she has shown up in a dark hour to help make things right again. Her guidance will be invaluable.”

“She’ll certainly make things interesting,” Cullen remarked. The commander was almost sure his face was nearly back to it’s natural color although his ears were still a little hot. “Not that they were dull before now, I mean.”

“She has that effect,” Cassandra said just the faintest hints of a smile. “Although I cannot say how well she will do out in the field. She isn’t much of a fighter.”

“Reports said she did a marvelous job in the battle at the Temple.”

“And she did. But according to Solas, she wastes too much energy and her powers are not magic based. At least not completely.”

Cullen frowned. “That definitely might pose a problem if we need her to be on the front lines at some point. She’s innocent. Like a child.”

“She is a child, Commander,” Cassandra corrected him. “At least compared to us. I don’t know if she ever told you about the place she comes from, but it is very different from ours.”

“I am aware of that much, Lady Cassandra.”

Leliana looked at the pair with a raised eyebrow. “Well do you think someone could tell the other person in the room what they know about her? It might help me get accustomed to the idea that we might not be working with something or someone other than human.”

“Don’t let Roderick hear you say that or he’ll be spewing demon siding as another charge for the Chantry to lob at us,” Josephine muttered. “I am confused enough at how she looks the same as she did when I was a child.”

“Solas and I have discussed that,” Cassandra informed them. “He thinks she is either a traveler from another world or a spirit misplaced in time. He leans towards a Spirit of Comfort if the latter is the case, to which I am inclined to accept. Whatever she is until just recently she thought we were all but dreams.”

“Which means she is connected to the Fade and holds powers in ways we couldn’t even begin to imagine,” Leliana ascertained. “She might in fact be dangerous. And might just be unintentionally partly at fault for the Conclave’s explosion. She might have caused it trying to stop whatever or whomever was the real murderer of the Divine and the people gathered.”

The room was quiet. Josephine cleared her throat. “Regardless, she is a valuable asset to the Inquisition and we should make her comfortable. And pray her dreams do not take her somewhere else before we can seal the Breach.”

“Is there any way we can keep her here indefinitely?” Cullen asked. “Keep her spirit occupied from leaving us?” Cassandra sighed wearily. “I will confer with Solas on the matter but it is all determined with how much focus she has on us. From what I have gathered she stays in places where she can properly fixate. Our world and we in particular proved fascinating and so she found us. I do not know how we can keep that from going away.”

“Well she is young and impressionable,” Leliana observed. “I can think of more than a few methods. We would have to discover what she might fancy.”

“Are you suggesting what I think you are?”

The spymaster lifted an eyebrow. “Well she did say you were handsome, did she not? We can capitalize on that.”


	10. I Can Eat and Yet I Have Not Pooped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicolette has a few... problems.

“Varric!  _ Help me _ …”

The dwarf looked over in the direction of the young woman who shouted for his assistance. “What can I do for you, Nicky?” he asked. She looked at him wide eyed. “I got 2 things I need your help with,” she stated. “Number 1: I wanted to know if you can help me get stuff to write with and some paper because I got notes I need to make so I don’t forget stuff.”

“I can definitely help you with that,” he nodded. “What’s the second problem?”

“Um… Well, this is awkward but I haven’t needed to go to the bathroom yet since I got here. Like at all.”

He raised his eyebrows looking confused. “Bathroom? If you need a bath, I think we can talk to Ruffles about-”

“No, not a bath. Although that would be helpful soon but I mean the  _ bathroom _ .”

He still looked at her confused. She sighed and rolled her eyes, fidgeting. “You know… the potty? The toilet?” Varric’s eyes widened in realization and he went “oh” finally understanding. “Do you need help finding them?” he asked. She shook her head wildly. “No. But I just thought it was weird. I honestly haven’t needed to go poop or pee since I first got to Thedas and saw you guys and well….” Her face scrunched up in that way he recalled it doing every time she got anxious.

“Do you want me to take you to Adan or one of the healers?” he offered. “Maybe they can help.”

“I-I don’t know. I went to you because I’ve known you a little longer than everyone else I think. I had more visits with you and the Kirkwall gang, I know that much but still I’m not-”

He sighed patting her on the arm. “It’s all right, Nicolette,” he soothed. “How about we go ask our resident Fade expert about it before we bother anyone else, okay?” Although her lack of quote unquote pooping was rather amusing, he could tell she was actually scared about the lack of bodily functions.

Solas wasn’t much help either. He asked her questions and such but gave no answers. Varric got a little bit more than slightly aggravated at that. “So what do you think we should do? She’s practically having a panic attack at the idea of not going to the bathroom.”

“Why did you suddenly become fixated on this lack of business?” Solas asked. “It’s not something most would think about until they had to perform.”

“It just popped into my head while I was having a sandwich and some juice over at the Singing Maiden. I was trying to think about some things and I swallowed a bite and thought, ‘I wonder how people brush their teeth here. Then I thought about bathroom habits which led me to think about pooping. Which led me to start worrying if because I haven’t had to poop, could I actually still be dreaming after all.”

The two men seemed to understand the real reason why she was afraid. If she wasn’t doing something normal, she was worried this wasn’t real again. “”I’m pretty sure I’m here,” she said. “And I’m sure you guys are real! And this is real!” She pointed to her marked hand. “I’d just feel better if I had to use the bathroom.”

“Damn, Kid… You really want to stay here that bad? This isn't exactly the greatest spot to be in.”

Nicolette nodded. “I don’t wanna go back to the Institute. This place? Even with all the danger and the lack of technology and even though I  _ really _ don’t understand a lot of things… It feels the closest to home I’ve ever had. When I tell you guys stuff, you don’t have doctors come in and try and put me on drugs that don’t work or make me feel like throwing up. You don’t tell me my powers are fake even though I can do things that I shouldn’t be able to. You’re my friends and I don’t wanna lose you.”

The girl bowed her head her loose hair falling over her face as tears threatened to spill out from her eyes. “I don’t wanna go away,” she whispered. Her hands balled into fists, the fabric of her pants bunching up slightly.

“Hey, hey! Nicky! It’s okay,” Varric assured her. “You’re not going anywhere, all right? We’ll figure something out! Besides, going to the bathroom can be a total pain! Literally! And think of how just gross it is - especially out in the wilderness! One wrong leaf and you’re most sensitive bits will be covered in poison oak! Like hey! Remember that one time with Hawke…”


	11. Talking to Yourself Out Loud

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a habit and not very good if you think about people liking to eavesdrop.

The writing materials showed up in her cabin a day after the whole embarrassing discussion Nicolette would seriously never want to revisit. Poor Varric and Solas probably thought she was a freak in spite of how sweet they’d been trying to comfort her. She grimaced at the memory.  _ Why in blazes did I have to start worrying about me pooping? _ ! she thought with a double facepalm. Running her hands down her face with a groan, she went to assess the bundle on her table.

A note was on top and Nicolette was pleased as punch to realize she could read it. “Either it was a font issue with the game developers or I got a new ability,” she said out loud. “Well whatever the reason: I can read!” She punched the air in excitement and then read the note.

_ Nicky, _

_ Here’s the stuff you asked for. Ruffles said if you want anything else, just ask her and she’ll see to it personally. However if anything you write happens to be another one of those poems like you did that one time back in Kirkwall involving Hawke and Fenris, I call dibs on reading it first. _

_ Love, _

_ Varric _

_ PS: If you want me to send a message to anyone back in Kirkwall and let them know you’re here, let me know. I know at least a certain merchant’s son and Daisy would be happy knowing you came back. _

Nicolette burst into giggles. The fact he seemed to remember her little poem she’d thought up on the fly that time was just beautiful. Okay so she’d been drinking ale (never ever again) when she’d cobbled it together but the fact Varric remembered made the memory even sweeter. Maybe it would be nice to let Sandal and Merrill know she was here.

Well maybe Sandal. Merrill might squish her face several times as a greeting then try and snuggle with her. That might be an awkward thing to try and explain to the people of Haven. “Course I can’t really judge. I gotta figure out if I can hold myself back from hugging Cole the first time I see him,” she said out loud to herself. “Never mind… I know me. I’m gonna hug him. I will either be sucked into my own brain by Envy or he’ll be there to warn us that the Red Templars are coming. Either way that boy is getting a hug!”

She blinked and looked around. “I should probably learn to not say things out loud,” she noted. You’d think she would have learned not to, growing up where she did. Alas she had never successfully kicked the habit and probably never would. It made her feel sane and calm.  _ Wasn’t that one of the signs of being crazy though? _ she wondered. “Oh well. At least if I’m crazy, I’m somewhere I love!”

Nicolette separated the writing supplies so she could look at them. A very pretty box containing a large stack of thick paper. “I can use this box to store things in once I use all my paper!” the blond said. A metal cylinder with quills. “So that’s how they store those! I always wondered.” 2 small glass pots of ink: one colored black and and one colored blue. “These are so cool!” She held up the ink pots and looked at them in awe.

Seeing images of something could not even begin to compare when you actually got to touch things. The little pots of ink, the cured leather covering the hard box holding the parchment, the metal tube protecting the quills. She felt tears welling up from happiness. Putting everything away safely, she headed outside. “I need to go hug people. Now!”


	12. Nicolette Likes Hugs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stealthy hug attacks lead to best ideas ever

“Hug Attack!” 

Nicolette sprang onto Varric’s back with a shout of glee. Varric nearly jumped out of his skin at the surprise. “Andraste’s Ass, Nicky! Have you been rogue training when no one was watching?!” She shook her head, hugging him tightly. “Nope! I was just trying to be like a ninja and glomp you,” she informed him. “I win.” Nicolette said smugly 

“Let’s just pretend I know what a glomp is, alright? You’d start rambling on trying to give an explanation and we’d all die from the breach.”

She pouted at his words and let him go. “I’m not that bad!” she insisted. He just chuckled. “Should we revisit the poop conversation and how it came to be?” the dwarf asked.

“Ugh.” She made a face. “I still can’t believe I had to bother you guys with that. There will never be a big enough way to make it up to you for having to listen to me go on about… that.” 

“Hey, come on. What are friends for?” he asked with that trademark smile of his. “Besides you only cover that kind of ground when dealing with your most trusted friends, normally. And you, my girl, are definitely a friend. So what was the hug attack for?”

Nicolette grinned and he could swear the overcast sky got a little clearer. “I got my writing things and I was so happy I nearly cried,” she said, fidgeting with her fingers excitedly. “And since I don’t like crying cause it makes my eyes all red and my face hurt, I decided I was gonna go hug people. You were number one on my hit list! Now I’m gonna go hug Solas and then Josephine and then figure out a plan of attack for Cullen and Cassandra. Then I’m going back in my cabin and write what I remember about what’s gonna happen or might happen or whatever. Oh that reminds me: I can read!”

“Really?” he asked, his eyes widening slightly. “Congratulations on joining the ranks of the literate. Shall I get you a present?”

She rolled her eyes, knowing he was teasing her. “Back in the world I was in previously, I couldn’t read what was written when I saw images of the books or anything that was being shown. It was all translated into English.”

“And now that you’re here, you can actually understand it all,” he concluded. She nodded with that smile of her’s and he nodded. “That is impressive, I will agree. And handy too. Would be a giant pain in the ass if you had to learn all that on top of fighting demons and saving the world.”

“I know I was able to read before because once I had to take care of Cassandra when she was sick. But that was before I knew you guys were real, y’know? That I wasn’t dreaming.”

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “So that was one of those times you two spent together huh?” Varric made a mental note to ask about this later while Nicolette nodded. “Yup. I think she ate something bad or had gotten a cold. Anyways one of things I did while I helped take care of her was read-”

She stopped for a minute, the wheels in her head seemed to click with an idea. “Oh my god oh my god! I have the best idea EVER!” she squealed. Varric moved back a bit. These were usually entertaining but were rather weird. Actually everything that happened with Nicky was weird. “You know the last chapter of Swords and Shields, right?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. Hey, wait… how did you know about-”

“I swear I will explain later and if you freaking let Cassandra know I told you this I will NEVER SPEAK TO YOU AGAIN! Cassandra is a closet romantic and she loves with a capital everything Swords and Shields. You need to work on the next chapter and we’ll give it to her.”

He stared at her as if she’d transformed. “And honestly I thought nothing could get weirder than a hole in sky. Are you telling me Cassandra is-”

She put her hands on his mouth to stop him from talking. “She’s very proud and sensitive about it so not a single word until I give you the signal, okay? I mean it, Varric! Not a single word!” He swore on Bianca he would keep quiet about the whole deal and then he watched her go.

“Never a dull moment with her,” he mused to himself. So the Seeker was a closet romantic who was also a big fan of his worst serial, huh? Why did that thought make him more than a little giddy?


	13. Really Needs to Watch Her Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's all take a moment to appreciate Solas' magical talents when it comes to keeping eavesdroppers from listening in.
> 
> Also: MERRY CHRISTMAS MOTHER FUCKERS!

Nicolette let the theme song from the Pink Panther cartoons play in her head as she stealthily made her way towards Solas’ cabin. Unfortunately Solas, being the amazingly magically adept man he was, could sense her.

“Hello, Nicolette.” he greeted as she attempted to sneak up from the side of his cabin.

“Darn it!” she declared. “No fair! I wanted to glomp you before you could tell where I was!” She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. He chuckled. “Sorry to disappoint,” he apologized.

“The only times you’ve ever disappointed me were when the dreams actually  _ were _ dreams and you were a romance option! My poor Lavellan! You’re a real jerk when you get involved with someone romantically, you know that? You take the vallaslin off the poor woman’s face and then leave her heart broken. And then 2 years later, bam! Showed back up. ‘I believe you have questions.’ You left wearing my best armor, let’s start with that!”

Nicolette suddenly remembered where they were and looked at Solas’ utterly perplexed expression. “Lovely. It’s the war room discussion with Cullen all over again,” she declared, throwing her hands up in exasperation. “I need to go back to my cabin for time out."

“Da’len, go into my cabin and sit down. We need to talk somewhere more secure and the Fade is not a ready place to do so.”

She agreed with a sigh and went inside his lodgings with a bowed head.  _ He’s gonna either yell at me or chastise me, _ she predicted.  _ Probably both. Ugh, Nicolette, what the heck is wrong with you?! You are not the avenger of Solavellan fans everywhere! Although that is an interesting idea… But no. That’s not a good idea. You can’t manipulate real people especially people you care about like that! It’s wrong. _

“Sit down.”

She flipped back to reality and realized she’d been standing in the middle the room while he was sitting at his desk. “Sorry, I got lost in thought,” she explained and meekly sat on his bed.

“Now perhaps you will explain to me what you were talking about in better detail? Starting with the dreams that were actually dreams.”

Nicolette shrank down trying to make herself as tiny as possible. “I don’t think I should-” He gave her a look that had her stop in her tracks. “Okay, okay! I’ll tell,” she said. That expression was Dread Wolf trespasser dlc Solas scary. She was really not looking forward to the fallout of this conversation at all. “Every 10 ‘dreams’,” she made air quote marks to emphasize dreams, “I would have, I would run through all of this as if I were playing the game.”

“The game?” he echoed perplexed.

“Dragon Age Inquisition. The very thing that introduced me to this world!”

“Ah,” he said flatly. “And in one of these playthroughs you were an elven female, I assume?”

“Elven female mage. Basically the ideal love interest for you according to fans. You wouldn’t go for any other race or gender, not that outside of human anyone was really pressing for you to get with one. But my brain was on pure 'dream as if you were playing the game' mode.”

“So in some ways you and I were involved in a manner I would deem highly inappropriate?”

Light blue eyes looked at him in horror before she opened her mouth in shock. “You do not get to play the wounded party here, Fen’Harel!” she declared. The elf widened his eyes at her using of his other name. “You gave Coryphaeus your orb hoping he’d die unlocking the power inside of it! You wanna help the People and the only way you can think of doing that is tearing the Veil down. Which, I will explain to you right now, is a  _ terrible idea _ ! You’re a brilliant man, Solas, but that is a  _ stupid _ idea and it is gonna end in even worse tragedy than this mess you got us in right here! Unless the Enavuris have somehow learned from their mistakes and became better people  (which I doubt because crazy only gets worse the longer you leave it properly untreated) your plan to deal with them? Not. Gonna. Work. So don’t you sit there and judge me for my brain having you and me in a relationship as a female elf that you loved and left heartbroken. And you took my arm because this thing was killing me!”

You could cut the uncomfortable silence with a knife, it was so thick. Solas was glad more than ever he’d infused this place with muffling wards so that no one outside would hear the conversations he had inside the privacy of his cabin. Her words disturbed him as well as intrigued him. In actuality he was not in any way disturbed by her admittance of a romance trip with her as a female elf. No feelings were had at all on the matter. Nicolette was nice and all but she was too… what? Young? Familiar? Innocent? He could not place what it was but it was certainly not because she was human.

“I don’t wanna lose my arm, Solas. And I don’t want you to be responsible for the deaths of millions of people and the destruction of so much. Again! I don’t feel romantic feelings towards you but I still love you. Lots of people do. So please: try and figure out some way to help the People without tearing down the Veil? I don’t know what but I can try and help you find another way that doesn’t involve genocide. You  _ don’t _ have to be alone anymore. No matter what you think, you don't! So please?  _ Please _ ?”

He looked into her blue eyes, the color of a cloudless sky, pleading and searching. Solas felt any negative feelings that had grown vanish under that gaze. She always had that effect on him. She made him calmer and gave him Hope. Perhaps that was what she was in some ways. A Spirit of Hope.

“I… will try, Da’len.”

Nicolette stared at him suspiciously, her eyes growing determined. “You mean it? Because I know you well enough that you lie when you think it’s best for everyone. You’re a stubborn old egg who doesn’t really like to listen to anyone once you made a decision.”

He couldn’t hold in the laughter at her statement and she grinned at the sound. “You don’t do that,” she observed once he’d finished. Solas looked at her confused.

“Do what?”

“Laugh. I’ve never heard it before.”

“Surely there was one moment in your game where I laughed, yes?” he asked. She shook her head slowly. “Not like that. You chuckled, I think. But you never laughed like that. I guess it’s like your hair… it got thrown away when the people in charge were making all the decisions.”

She got to her feet and bowed in gratitude. “I’m gonna go get something to eat. Dareth Shiral, ‘ma falon. I will see you later.”


	14. Don't Hug Attack People with Swords

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Conundrums make Nicky hungry and side track her from speaking to Cullen.

To hug attack or not hug attack. That was the question.

A very large piece of Nicolette wanted to do it so badly she was ready to jump out of her skin. On the other hand, she might lose a piece of her body if she did it to Cassandra and she didn’t even know how Cullen would react.

Beside it might embarrass him if she just hugged him indiscriminately out in the open. He was a grown man and she was pretty sure that what she wanted to do might be frowned upon. “Curse you reality,” she half-joked. “I have to think about things like this!”

If it was Bull or Dorian or Cole she was sure she wouldn’t have any problem trying to go hug them. Vivienne wasn’t really the hugs type. Sera… well she’d only had 2 dream in regards to interacting with her and the last time she’d… well let’s just say it hadn’t been kind.

Nicky sighed and decided to just go ahead and talk with Cullen. Besides, since she knew him better than a game bound Inquisitor, they could talk about more things than just the standard dialogue. And she really wanted to stare at him and his real life face again.

“Not a Cullen fangirl but you gotta admit he’s really attractive,” she said to herself. “I can see why a lot of ladies swoon over him. And it was kind of fun romancing him. Oh yeah that reminds me, I really need to start writing my notes. Hmm… I wonder if I get some kind of allowance for working with the Inquisition? I really wanna go shopping at Val Royeaux and I don’t think monsters actually drop loot. Although the demons did evaporate when we killed them. No way normal enemies do that. That would just be weird. Ooh, Tavern!”

Nicolette went into the Singing Maiden to grab a bite to eat. All that thinking out loud made her hungry. “Hey, Flissa, can I have something to eat?” she asked going up to the counter. “I still don’t have any money though.I could wash dishes in exchange!”

“Oh, uh… th-that’s alright, Her- I mean Nicky!” the redhead stammered. “You don’t need to pay for your food or drinks! Lady Josephine already made an arrangement for you.”

Nicolette blinked in surprise. “Oh, I guess she’s getting hugged for more than my writing supplies then!” the blonde declared. “May I have a sandwich and a mug of something without alcohol in it please?”

Flissa complied and Nicolette found a table in the corner where she could eat without too much trouble. Maryden’s lovely voice sounded throughout the Maiden as Nicolette ate her food. Strangely enough she started thinking about Cole again. Spirit or Human? She’d never had an easy time with those choices. It was a responsibility both harrowing and never made her feel right. Luckily though, she could find out what Cole wanted and wouldn’t have to choose for him. That made her grin happily.

“Uh-oh, I know that smile,” a teasing voice said. “Are you plotting again?” Nicolette looked up at Varric. She shook her head in denial as he sat down across from her. “Nope. Just thinking about someone.” He grinned knowingly and she shot him a look. “Not like that! Jiminy Cricket, what is with you trying to get me to make lovey dovey faces?”

“I don’t do that all the time,” the dwarf declared with a fake expression of hurt. “But let’s be honest, Nicky: it would be awfully nice for you to have someone to romance you. Let’s face it, everyone needs it at least once.”

“Yeah but don’t you have to be kind of grown up for that stuff?” she asked taking a bite of her food. “I’m still a kid… well I think so anyhow. And I’m not exactly woo worthy. I think I’d be too clingy and the only kind of romance and relationship experience I’ve ever had were from books or my games from the other world. I’m pretty sure those are very bad teachers. Anyhow what brought this on?”

He chuckled. “Just a thought I had earlier. So you read romance novels?”

The blond nodded again. “The Institute had a very large library and I found several steamy romance books in there. I took them and hid them in my room but they found out about them when a good chunk of the collection went missing.”

“You were stealing romance novels?! Nicolette, I am shocked!” He put a hand to his forehead. “Such inappropriate and scandalous behavior from the Herald of Andraste!” She scrunched her face up at him, the smile evident. “They were really good novels!" she said in her defense. "All sexual tension and kisses that took the lady’s breath away and people realizing they loved one another and someone either got pregnant or married but either way they would be together forever… I like that idea.”

“Sounds like you’re more invested in romance than you realize.” Varric surmised. Nicolette shrugged. “I dunno, but I can appreciate it at least!”


	15. Chatting with Cullen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not how it is in the game.

“Hi, Cullen!”

Nicolette skipped up to the commander with a smile on her face. “Nicolette,” he said with a polite nod. “Are you settling in well?”

“Haven is a lot bigger than I thought it was,” she informed him. “A lot more houses and tents… layout is fairly similar but I’ll get used to it, I hope. How are you doing?”

He seemed surprised she asked, which Nicolette viewed as rather silly. “I’m fine,” he said. “Thank you.”

“Good. Because I’m not afraid to take care of you if you get sick,” she told him. He flushed in embarrassment and cleared his throat. “I, uh, I appreciate that,” he told her. She grinned at him and he felt his cheeks darken a little more.

“You know, I really wanted to hug attack you earlier,” she explained. “But I realized that might be a bad idea. You've got soldiers and other people watching what we do and I didn’t want to embarrass you. So I didn’t.”

Cullen looked at her rather surprised. He probably shouldn’t be, he reasoned. She was an affectionate girl and honest to a fault. Caring, helpful, sweet, nurturing. Nicolette was far too good to be true. He recalled Leliana’s words and inwardly shook himself. No. No, he would not even attempt to try and romantically get himself involved with Nicolette. She was too good for him.

“Also I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable with my talking about how attractive you’ve gotten. I’ve never interacted with people much outside of the staff in the Institute. Actually I didn’t really have much exposure to the outside world period.”

“When did you first get there?” he asked, keeping an eye on the troops training while they spoke.

“I don’t know. Pretty young, I think. I don’t remember my parents or life before the Institute. But I never considered it home. Not really. Have you written Mia yet? You know she’s worried about you, right?”

He nodded in agreement. “I’ve been rather busy though but I probably should at least send a note.” She looked at him with slight disapproval. “No probably about it, Rutherford! You definitely need to write her. And more than a freaking note.”

He laughed as she placed her hands on her hips. “All right, I will do it later.”

“While you eat dinner would be a good time. I’ll even help to make sure it gets done… And it WILL get done, capiche?”

“What?”

“Capiche. It means do we understand each other or something like that.”

He nodded in understanding and she smiled. “Good. I’ll see you tonight around sundown. That should be a workable time right?” she asked. “I’ve gotta go write some things so if I don’t find you first, you come find me! I will be really mad if you don’t! Got it?”

He chuckled and gave her a fake salute. “Yes, ma’am!”

“As you were, Commander!” she responded with her own teasing salute. Cullen watched her leave and went back to his work, feeling strangely better than he did before she approached him.


	16. You Never Know How Much You Miss Lined Paper And Pencils

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Modern girl tries to write with medieval tools. It doesn't go badly but it doesn't go well either.

Nicolette realized it would be difficult to write her notes without lines on the paper to keep it from slanting downward about 2 minutes into her writing about Haven.

“This must be why people used capital letters in all those fancy shows,” she stated. “Poop and rat feathers! Now I gotta ask Solas if there’s a magical way to write so it looks pretty or see if a I can find a piece of wood to use like a ruler!” She huffed in irritation.

“Also I gotta ask Josephine about how you clean quills so they last a long time! There’s no metal end on these things to prevent the edges from getting dull! The television lied to me.”

Making a face, she blew on the page she wrote to help the ink dry. Gently, because she knew it might streak and let’s face it: her handwriting wasn’t the prettiest in the world to begin with. At least that’s what the teachers had said. They’d lied to her too about most things but she was sure that wasn’t one of them.

Her ideal handwriting that she wanted to use was curves and cute little hearts dotting the i’s and at the end of sentences. But most of what she wrote looked hard and slashed.

“Handwriting is supposed to be reflective of a person’s personality. Is this what mine is actually like?” she asked as she stared at the writing in front of her. Even her O’s, the most lovely and soft looking letter looked harsh. “I don’t like you,” she whispered angrily to her font. “Why can’t you be prettier?”

“Don’t blame me,” she answered back in a high squeaky voice. “I’m just the way I am!”

“Oh I will definitely blame you. Dishonor on you, Mister Font! Dishonor on you house. Dishonor on your family. Dishonor on your cow!”

“Oh no! Not the cow!” ‘Mister Font’ declared. Nicolette snickered. “Oh I am completely insane!” she announced, throwing her hands in the air. Sighing she put the piece of parchment away and capped her ink bottle.

“I should go and speak to Josie and Solas before I have to meet Cullen for dinner. I will not let that man wait to write his sister until after we get to Tera… Tesla… Skyhold!”

She really needed to either work on her elvhen or stop speaking it completely. It would merely be an insult to a people who already suffered enough. Maybe Solas would give her lessons? “Nah. He has enough to do,” she decided. “I’m off to see Josephine!”

The blonde skipped off towards the Chantry singing softly to herself:

_ Frère Jacques, frère Jacques, _

_ Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous? _

_ Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines! _

Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.

She bopped her head to the side at the last part, repeating the children’s song until she entered the church. Luckily of all the things that carried over from game world to real world, the interior of the Chantry was the same. Holding off on the urge to go down and investigate the lower corridors, she went to Josephine’s office. Just in time to start that cutscene with the Marquis.

Oh lovely. That wasn’t what she anticipated walking into at all. Oh, but what a golden opportunity for a question she’d always had that never had been answered.

“Does this mean your family had claim to Haven when those dragon cultists were killing anyone who came to this place while they claimed Andraste had returned to the world as a High Dragon over 10 years ago?”

Josephine and the Marquis both stared at her with shock to which Nicolette just looked at them innocently. “What? I know my history… enough of it anyhow. Dragon cultists descended from the followers of Andraste who smuggled her ashes to this mountain were killing anyone who came here investigating the rumors of Andraste’s Ashes. A lot of good men and women were killed by them. If your wife has claims to this place that override the Chantry’s, does that mean she knew what was going on? I don’t know about you, Marquis, but I wouldn’t want to be claiming Haven as my property when at least dozens of knights and templars searching for the cure to Arl Eamon’s sickness all those years ago were murdered in cold blood. Are you okay, ser? You look pale.”

The man had indeed turned several shades lighter. “I am fine. If you will excuse me, there are some matters I must attend to. Lady Montilyet.”

He left and Nicolette looked at Josephine. “I just did a boo boo, huh?” she asked sheepishly.

“Perhaps, but it was certainly one that will have the Marquis think twice before coming here and threatening us,” Josephine stated. “How are you doing, Nicolette? Were the writing supplies to your satisfaction?”

Nicolette nodded. “Uh-huh. Remind me I owe you a hug for that. They’re really pretty!”

The Lady Ambassador blushed a little, a pleased expression all over her face. “Well I will certainly take you up on your offer at a later time,” she approved. “Is there something you need?”

“Well kind of. I don’t know if I ever told you this but the world I came from, we didn’t have quills to write with. We had things called ink pens so I never used a quill to write with before. How do I keep it clean and from wearing down?”

Josephine looked at her surprised. “You’ve honestly never written with a quill and ink before?”

Nicolette shook her head. “We’d grown out of using those a little over 100 to 200 years ago. Or if someone did use them they were actually ink pens made to look like quills. Nobody used ink in bottles aside from artists or history fanatics.”

Josephine looked at Nicolette fascinated. “That sounds very convenient. How did they work?”

“Well I’m not too sure how, but they were round hollow tubes with pointy ends like quills have but they had their own little miniature ink wells inside of them that when they were empty you could throw them away and buy a new one. I don’t really know much on how they were made. But they’re really popular and you could get them with all different colors of ink in them. Like purple and pink and red and orange!”

Josephine leaned forward ever so slightly and offered Nicolette a seat. “So these ink pen devices are common when are you came from?”

The blond girl nodded. “I like pencils more though. If you made a mistake you could just take an eraser and wipe it out.”

“And what are pencils?”

“Pencils are about the same lengths and thickness as pens but they’re made of wood and they have this little rod of charcoal in the center. They use some kind of glue to pin the pieces of wood together to make sure the charcoal stays in place. At least I think that’s how it works. Anyways I had another question. When people are learning how to write for the first time.. How do you stop your sentences from slanting?”


	17. Vandalized

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People do cruel things.

Nicolette had shouted before. She knew that much. Shouts were different than screams. Shouts were just louder tones on words that would get away from you.

According to the Webster’s Dictionary, to scream was emitting a shrill piercing sound.

She had definitely fulfilled Mister Webster’s requirements after returning to her cabin and finding it having been ransacked and words like demon, abomination, whore, and murderer written on the walls. In what looked like blood.

Oh how she hoped it was not blood.

Over half of Haven must have rushed to find out why she was screaming. Her horror at the sight was not her’s alone and Solas and Varric were once again her keepers as Cassandra and Cullen moved to disperse the crowd and investigate the mess.

Her stuff had been destroyed. Her lovely gifts from Josephine and Varric had been thrown in the fire; the inky pots smashed against the walls. Her pillows and the bed had been slashed with so many feathers strewn about the room it looked like a whole flock of chickens had been unleashed. Her staff, the one she’d found during her first demon fight, lay broken.

“Who could have done this?” Cassandra asked. Cullen had no answer except, “Whomever it was will pay.”

Cassandra nodded, sighing in sorrow as she found the torn remnants of Nicolette’s Institute issued white cotton shirt splattered with the same blood red liquid as that which had been used on the walls. The pants were in a similar condition strewn on the other side of the cabin.

“She didn’t have much in the first place and we’re supposed to make her feel safe,” Cassandra mourned with a bitter angry edge to her voice. “I fear we have failed.”

“No. We only fail if whoever is responsible for this attacks again and does worse than destroy her things,” he stated. He ordered two of his best to stand guard while Leliana had some of her people go and investigate.

~ ( ^ 3 ^ ) ~

“They destroyed everything?” Nicolette asked or rather squeaked at Cassandra. She’d put a strain on her voice box with the scream she’d made and Solas had given her some tea to help soothe it. Cassandra nodded. “They’d even gotten to your clothes, the ones you’d worn when you first arrived. Nothing can be salvaged.”

Nicolette looked down at her tea cup, blinking back tears. “Oh Varric! I’m so sorry!” she squeaked. Her words caught the dwarf off guard. “Why for Andraste’s sake are you apologizing to me?” he asked.

“Because the stuff you and Josie gave me is destroyed and it was a wonderful present!”

She couldn’t hold in her tears and they fell like giant huge raindrops down her face. “Nothing except my clothes was mine! They were all gifts from the Inquisition! All that nice stuff that everyone was so kind to give me is gone and I can’t pay them back!” she sobbed.

“What happened is not your fault,” Varric insisted. Solas agreed. “You cannot take responsibility for something that was done against you like this,” the elf advised. “You have done nothing to warrant this attack.”

“Well obviously I must have! People don’t do those kinds of things on a whim!”

“On the contrary, people have done far worse for no reason other than their own merriment,” Solas explained. Cassandra nodded. “Solas is right. We must be grateful that it was only the cabin that was attacked and not you.”

Their words were sweet but Nicolette couldn’t bring herself to feel comforted by them. She finished her tea and started to stand up. “Oh no you don’t, Nicky!” Varric declared. “You are staying right here until Leliana and the others finish working.”

“But someone has to clean up the mess!”

“And they will,” Solas agreed. “But it will not be you. You shall remain right here.”

“Now it just sounds like I’m being grounded!” Nicolette huffed, crossing her arms over her chest but looking resigned to her fate. 

“More like under guard until we get answers,” Cassandra informed her. Varric promised he would go find her a couple of books to read and Solas got her some more tea.

“That kind of stuff… it never happened before. When this was all dreams or a story I was going through,” she told them. “Is this what happens because came here? Because I asked questions and didn’t play by the rules?”

“You cannot blame yourself for this,” Cassandra insisted. “This was not your doing. Even if you changed the rules somehow of whatever it is you think is occurring, no one is pushing the blame upon you.”

Nicolette knew in her gut that Cassandra wasn’t lying. But she was also sure Cassandra was wrong.


	18. Cassandra and Varric Talk Nicely To Each Other

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicolette's heter-OTP of Dragon Age Inquisition share a moment.

She couldn’t bring herself to go back to her cabin. Or look at Josephine or Varric. In fact it was hard looking at anyone right now because of how guilty she felt.

And so far nothing they’d said made much of a dent to brighten her mood. Varric commented to Cassandra when he was sure Nicolette was out of earshot, “It feels like we’re in the middle of a funeral.” He placed a mug of ale in front the Seeker as he sat beside her in the Maiden.

Cassandra nodded with a hum, the air around them had even gotten to her. “Leliana’s men have not found an sign or trace of the culprits responsible,” the Seeker said as she nursed the drink before her. “And even if she were allowed to return to her cabin, I would not wish her to.”

“That was blood on those walls,” Varric stated. Cassandra nodded. “We were able to convince her it was paint but it was definitely blood.”

“Shit. There’s no way someone could live through that much loss.” he scowled.

“They didn’t. One of Cullen’s patrols found the body of a young elf on the outskirts during a patrol. Face was mutilated beyond recognition and stipped naked so no one could identify her.”

“Andraste’s tits,” Varric cursed. “This gets worse the longer it goes on.”

Cassandra agreed with him. “She saved my life once,” the Seeker told him after a pause and Varric looked at her surprised. “When I began guarding the Divine, I was poisoned by an assassin. They said I should have died within the first few hours of ingestion but I didn’t. She came to me, stayed by my side and cared for me. I have no doubt in my mind: the Maker sent her to me to help me live. I have yet to tell her since until that day in the prison I hadn’t seen her.”

Varric was silent as he processed the story. “It’s hard for me to remember when I first met her,” he admitted, but the last time was a little before Blondie blew up the Tower in Kirkwall. At the time I didn’t know what was going on but now I know: she was trying to stop him from doing what he did. It would be easy to blame her for not trying to stop him better. I think she does blame herself.”

“Lesser people will blame her if they knew. Not caring that until now we were but dreams to her. You might think I’m crazy but I do not care what we were to her before. Not really. All I care about is how she has treated me.”

Varric found himself agreeing with her and as he looked at Cassandra he felt… something. Swallowing it down along with the last gulp of his ale he joked, “Careful Seeker! You keep this up, someone might think you have a heart beating beneath all that hard ass veneer.”

He swore he saw just the barest hint of a smile beneath that look she shot him. “Good day to you, Varric,” she said and left. He sighed as he watched her go, ordering another round.


	19. Herbs, Iron Ore, and Nugs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Resource gathering information and old cartoon references. She leads a glamorous life, our herald.

“So I pick them like this?”

Nicolette removed the leaves off the elfroot plant and Adan nodded. “Yeah, that’s perfect. You do it like that and you can easily get enough from one plant for at least two potions if you play it right.”

“Thank you, Mister Adan,” she said with a bow. “Um, is it okay if I come back later? I might have more questions about harvesting.”

“If that’s what you’ll take in payment instead of money then fine. Although I don’t get why you won’t except any.”

“I’m helping the Inquisition. I already feel bad about what happened to the stuff they gave me,” she explained. “If I can bring back plenty of raw ingredients so less people get sick or die, then that’s exactly what I’m gonna do. I need to earn my keep.”

“You’re already sealing the breach and trying to bring order to this chaos. I don’t know how much more you think you need to do,” Adan chastised her. “But I won’t turn away good help when it’s needed.”

“Thank you, Mister Adan,” she said with a bow. “I need to go talk with Threnn about requisition supplies. We’ll talk later.”

“Anytime. Just don’t go getting yourself hurt trying to help everyone!” he called as she left his hut.

~ ( ^ 3 ^ ) ~

“So I use this thing, find a spot, and just crowbar it out?”

Threnn nodded. “Don’t know if you got the physical strength to do it though,” the quartermaster assessed after giving the girl another once over. Nicolette frowned. “I can do it. Now how much iron and materials do I need to bring back as payment for these?” she asked holding up the tools.

“I told ya, your worship: you don’t have to pay me back,” Threnn stated, her tone turning more than mildly irritated. Nicolette just hummed non-committedly. “I’ll be back and I’ll get that logging site marked for you. Goodbye.”

“Be safe, your worship.”

~ ( ^ 3 ^ ) ~

“Oh no, I can’t do it!” she whined. Those little pink bodies and giant ears and cute little tiny hands. Nugs were supposed to be creep. Not adorable! 

“I will try to kill rams. I will certainly hunt druffalos and brontos and giants. Oh my!” she declared. “But I can’t kill you!” She picked up a rather curious nug who had wandered over to sniff her. It snuggled against her and Nicolette sighed. 

“Well I hope the Black Emporium is an actual thing because that’s the only way I’m getting through this,” she told the nug. “And now I’m gonna name you because I’m taking you home with me! What should I name you?”

Then it came to her. Like a flash of brilliance wrapped in 90s nostalgia. “I dub thee: Pinky!” she declared hoisting the nug up to eye level with a look of awe. “And should we find another one, he will be the Brain.”

She returned back to Haven, singing the theme song from Pinky and the Brain with her brand new nug under one arm and a bag of elfroot slung over her shoulder.


	20. Leliana Is A Lot Nicer Than Nicky Thought She Would Be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A nice chat between Leliana and Nicky. No, that isn't sarcastic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've made Leliana a very big bitch in many stories. It's time I fixed that. At least here.

Finally she was going to go to the Hinterlands and talk with Mother Giselle. Not that she’d been exactly impatient to go but she’d been in Haven for nearly 3 weeks since the Inquisition’s official installment and they had a world to save.

“A moment if you please, Lady Herald,” Leliana said. Nicolette felt a little nervous. Leliana though somewhat likable in Dragon Age Origins had always creeped her out. It was the religious devotion, Nicolette guessed. She thought having faith was good. It was a very good thing to have something to believe in, but Leliana’s along with other religious types devotion kind of left her feeling scared.

Just a little scared.

“I wanted to chat with you. See if we could get to know one another better so you aren’t so… I guess the term is frightened of me.”

The blond girl did her best Cullen rubbing the back of his neck impression. “It’s not… necessarily you, Sister Nighting-”

“Leliana.”

“Leliana,” Nicolette agreed and continued on. “How do I explain?” She sighed as she tried to figure out how to say what she meant without digging herself into a hole. “I kind of know you but I don’t know you.”

“You speak of the mes that were not me as I am here, correct?”

“That’s pretty much it, yeah,” Nicolette acknowledged. “I’m certain you can be a very nice lady which is why you and Josephine have been friends for so long.”

“But you’ve seen me at some of my worst times,” Leliana finished for her. The blond nodded emphatically. “You are a very imposing lady and I admire you the fact you’re devout and believe in the Maker and Andraste. It just makes me anxious.”

The spymaster laughed and Nicolette looked at her worriedly. “Well I’m glad you were honest with me,” Leliana said. “How about this: spend some time with me every so often. I would love to get to know you.”

“Am I that intriguing?”

Leliana nodded softly. “Very much so. Also, I would ask that you be rather careful when speaking to yourself out loud. You have a tendency to speak of things that may or may not make others think you have precognitive powers or are insane. I don’t believe you are the latter but I don’t want our enemies to inadvertently gain the upper hand by hearing your conversation.”

“Isn’t that something you’d wanna take advantage of? Picking my brain apart and knowing my secrets?”

“Of course,” the redhead assured Nicolette who bit her lip. “But it would be incredibly dangerous for me to know it as well. I’m certain we are both aware of uncomfortable things have been lately. Not that I’m placing all the blame on you of course.”

Nicolette looked at the ground guiltily while Leliana sighed. “The point is I only wish that you tell us information on upcoming missions or events whenever they seem prevalent to you so we can make a backup plan in case things go wrong. You are very important to the Inquisition. And not just because you are the only means we have to seal the breach. Several people here would be even more distraught at your untimely death than they were in regards to the Conclave’s destruction.”

“I think you might be exaggerating about that,” Nicolette said in disbelief even though a small embarrassed smile escaped it’s way onto her lips. Leliana shook her head. “Not at all. I’ve received several reports of your antics around the camp. Gathering elfroot for Adan. The collection of ore and logging site searches for Threnn. Flissa reported how you’ve been trying to help out in the Singing Maiden waiting on tables and washing dishes in exchange for learning how to cook simple foods, and I understand you were asking how to darn socks and repair simple holes in clothing and armor from Harrit.”

“I always thought knitting and needlework were amazing things but you can’t have sharp objects around you back at the Institute. Policy in case someone decides to hurt a staff member or themselves, they said. So I never was able to learn. It was the same with cooking. I never got to learn how.”

“I see, but still the fact you’ve been doing these things that have helped out many people has not gone unnoticed. You’re becoming quite popular.” Leliana held out her hand, anticipating Nicolette’s next phrase. “That’s nothing to be afraid of. You’re doing a wonderful job around here. Keep up the good work.”

“I will. Thank you, Leliana. Good day to you.”

“See you when you return from the Hinterlands. Have a safe trip.”

“Oh it’ll be something!” Nicolette exclaimed. “Rogue Templars who see apostates and mage sympathizers everywhere so they’ll kill everyone they come across and Mages who are just as bad. We got rifts galore to seal and a horsemaster to help secure. I’m gonna be busy.”

“Well at least you’re aware at any rate,” the spymaster commented. Nicolette nodded in agreement. “In many ways, yes. Yes, I am.”


	21. Prepping with Pinky the Nug

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicolette has a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got to get some books today so guess who is in a good mood and wants to give you guys some good feels?

“Pinky, get out of there!”

The nug poked it’s head out of the pile of blankets she had been folding up in preparation for tomorrow’s trip. Luckily her knowledge about what was needed in regards to requisitions and missions were hard coded in her memory. Plus she’d had Leliana send a crow yesterday and it was confirmed yes, they did need blankets and food supplies.

“Good thing too or I would have been very irritated, Pinky,” she said to the nug who she’d scooped up into her arms to get him out of the blankets. Not only were nugs burrowers but she’d gotten one who liked to snuggle apparently because from the day she’d brought him back with her, he’d done almost nothing else but that.

“Now Leliana has promised to take care of you while I’m gone so you be good,” she ordered. “And be careful I don’t wanna come back and know someone made you into a pelt.”

It squeaked almost like it was responding to her statement.

“Yes, it would be very terrifying for me as well. It’s bad enough I found out you and your lot are too adorable to kill. I don’t wanna come back and have someone hand me a report saying, Dear Herald: about your beloved nug Pinky …”

Pinky snuggled a little closer to her and she rubbed him behind one of his giant ears thoughtfully. “One of these days, Pinky, I’m gonna get a nuggalope. I will name him George. And I will find him the most gloriously ugly hat with flowers on it the world has ever seen which he will wear proudly upon his head as we journey throughout Thedas.” 

She pointed at her nug “ And you will be with us, wearing a tiny black waistcoat, monocle, painted on mustache and a top hat. That is my dream.”

Pinky yawned, blissfully ignorant as animals usually are of their guardians words.


	22. Refugees Supplied and Winterwatch Potions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Also some Cass and Varric goodness

They kept her behind them in charge of the cart that held the supplies with a pair of soldiers as her guards while Cassandra, Varric and Solas all took out the templars and mages terrorizing the crossroads. She wouldn’t argue with that, she knew she wasn’t combat ready and she doubt she would be. Ever.

At least in regards to fighting humans.

Undead, demons, rampaging druffalo? She could bring herself to end their lives. Okay maybe not the druffalo unless she had to. She’d actually rather ride a druffalo if she could choose between killing it or riding it.

Finally all the fighting had died down and she was able to deliver the stuff they’d brought with them. “Thank you, My Lady.” The man she identified as Corporal Vale thanked her as she helped them get the things off the cart.

“My pleasure, Corporale Vale,” she said, flashing him a smile. “I’m just glad we were able to get you these things. Is the hunter looking for meat around here?”

“On top of the hill near the old healer’s hut, right over there.”

She nodded. Well at least the crossroad’s layout was the same. It was actually exactly the same with everything being situated where it was ingame. Including the poor guy who’s wife was having lung issues. That was another one she was eager to get taken care of.

Varric and the rest just watched her hurry about the crossroads refugees and to her credit, they saw her handle the conversation with Madame Giselle rather well. Cassandra would even admit later how she’d thought Nicolette would be overexcited and rambling.

Whittle, who now no longer really needed to worry about the mage caches being marked (even though Nicolette was still going to find them and get them to the crossroads since they were a necessary way to help), was convinced to accompany them as they headed up to Winterwatch Tower to deal with the rift those crazy people were worshipping.

“I’ll need you to make the delivery to Hyndal’s father once we get him to give us the potion as quickly as you can,” she informed the recruit, who nodded. “I’ll make haste as soon as soon as it’s in my hands, Lady Herald.”

Within hours they were at the gate of Winterwatch and Nicolette was in no mood to play through game dialogue. “Anais, I can close the rifts and I need inside here so I can get a potion that can save someone’s life. Would you please open the gate and let us in?”

“Even should you know my name, I will not believe the Maker sent you until you show me proof.”

“Which I can’t give you unless you guys open the gates. So please let us in!”

Anais was hesitating but finally allowed them passage. “Hyndal should be up this way,” Nicolette said and wound her way through the courtyard and up into the buildings. She spotted him and held her hand up to stop him from leaving while she caught her breath. “Your family back at the crossroads is in trouble,” she said.

“How do you-”

“Your mom... That breathing problem with her lungs is back and your father is panicking. You need to go to them.”

The elf was receptive to her words and he made a batch of healing elixir while Nicky and the group went to close the rift.

~ ( ^ 3 ^ ) ~

The rift closed with a satisfying crack and Nicolette picked up the loot left behind in it’s wake. “Yes! Mineave is gonna love this!” she declared, carefully storing her spoils for later. “OMFG! Varric! Superb Caltrops Ring! Let me clean it and it’s yours!”

“Thanks kid but I think I’ll pass. You can sell it though and get yourself some pocket money.”

Her face fell and she looked down. “A-alright,” she acknowledge dejectedly and went to slip it into a pouch on her armor. Forcing a smile and cheerful tone, she said, “Probably doesn’t fit. You know how rings are! They come in all different sizes.”

Cassandra held out her hand Nicolette looked at her confused. “Let’s test it and see before you’re so quick to dismiss it,” the Seeker told explained, taking the ring from the blond girl. Varric’s eyes widened as Cassandra grabbed his hand and forced the ring (which fit absolutely perfectly to his dismay) onto his finger while muttering in his ear with venom, “You’re supposed to be the sensitive one!”

Varric just swallowed in shock. He looked at the Seeker and then his hand and then they both looked at Nicolette who was looking at them anxiously. He shot her his best smile and said, “Well would you look at that! It fits! Thanks, Nicky.”

“Perhaps we will be lucky and come across a similar ring for you, Lady Cassandra,” Solas stated, a smirk on his lips that caused Cassandra to look at him with suspicion. What was that look for? And why did Nicolette’s eyes just widened and sparkle at that?


	23. Wait. You Can Do That?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She's not stupid. Not really.

“I’m sorry but I’m bringing out the whine. I hope you guys have cheese…”

Nicolette flung herself over one of the half-walls lining the road with a groan. “I think I’ve got blisters on my blisters and my feet hurts so bad I can’t feel them! How do you people do this all the time?!”

“You know we could take a break,” Varric informed her. “You’ve been travelling all this time without one. Actually lasted longer than I thought you would.”

Nicolette looked up at him from her perch of stone. “You can do that?” she asked in awe.

They all gave her looks mixed with amusement, horror, and shock.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Cassandra declared flabbergasted. “Are you telling me you- Wait, of course you didn’t think you could take a break. This is you!” The Seeker threw up her hands in surrender and the group all went to rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's short but Nicolette is just Nicolette and sometimes it gets this way.


	24. Her and Her Big Mouth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dreams of horseback riding are put on hold once more.

They finally, finally reached Dennett's farm and Nicolette was excited. She was going to get to ride a horse for the first time in her life! And unlike in the game the others were bound to get their own horses too! Well maybe Varric would get a pony. 

Wait: could that be considered racist if she thought in terms of ground to height safety ratio Varric should ride a pony?

“That look on your face,” Cassandra observed. Nicolette looked over at the warrior curiously.

“I have a look?” she asked looking slightly confused.

“It’s that look you get when you’re having a conversation with yourself inside your own head. What are you thinking about?”

“I was wondering if it was racist thinking it would be safer for Varric to have a pony instead of a horse because of the height in terms of ground to seat,” she admitted.

Varric, who had been taking a drink from a waterskin, started coughing as hearing this caused the water to go down the wrong way. “Maker, Nicky: what in the void brought that on?” he asked between coughs.

“Well I was excited because I’ve never ridden a horse before or got to be near one and then I recalled what happened in the game and how no one except the Inquisitor was the one who got to ride a steed, so-”

“The Inquisitor?” Cassandra asked in shock.

Nicolette’s eyes widened. “Uh-oh,” she said. “Um, you didn’t hear anything I just said. Oh look some druffalo! You think anyone has ever ridden one of those?”

“Nicolette.”

Oh dear. That was the tone Cassandra used as a warning. Like she was a mother warning her misbehaving child that she was close to being punished.

“I don’t wanna tell you, Cassandra! That may make bad things happen that didn’t happen in the game as a side effect of my big mouth!”

“We have yet to seal the Breach and you’ve already let it slip that we elect an Inquisitor. What else are you keeping from us?” the Seeker demanded.

“Oh… a whole lot,” Nicolette sighed in defeat. “But I would tell you if I didn’t think it would cause more problems!”

“And what problems would it cause?”

“Well for one thing the house you guys lent me was torn apart because I went and asked that noble guy a question involving the dragon cultists which wasn’t ever covered in the game dialogue!”

Cassandra shook her head. “There is no clear evidence those two things are related,” she stated. “Besides if you can tell us things that might help-”

“Oh you mean things like when we go to Val Royeaux to talk with the Chantry and Lord Seeker Lucius shows up, he may actually be an Envy demon in disguise while the real Lord Seeker is currently working with Corypheus and the Order of the Fiery Promise to grow demons in the bodies of the remaining Seekers?” Nicolette demanded. 

The very air went still as Cassandra and the group looked at Nicolette.

“Well shit,” Varric said. “Looks like things can get worse. How in the Void did Corypheus come back? Hawke killed him!”

“I do not believe it is a good idea to go further into this conversation,” Solas advised.

“At least not at this moment. Let us continue this at another time, one where we will be in a more secure position to deal with any fall out should Nicolette be correct in her assumption.”

Too bad it was at that moment a nice band of templars ambushed them while a rampaging great bear which was only supposed to be seen in the Emerald Graves region charged into the fray.

“This is why I shouldn’t say anything!” Nicolette shouted as she scrambled out of the path of the charging bear who knocked over the wall shield wielding templar knight.

“You cannot honestly believe this is due to your revelations of future events!” Cassandra said as she ran one of the templars through with her sword.

“That bear is only supposed to be in the Emerald Graves! You are not supposed to be here!” the blond girl shrieked at the bear, using small telekinetic pushes to counter the bear’s swipes at her.

The bear roared at her and she scrambled out of range as it stood on it’s hind legs to do one of those attacks that would cause anyone within in a few feet to be knocked down. “I wish you would go back home, you stupid bear!”

The creature roared and with a final howl trundled off leaving the group of heros breathing heavily and surrounded by bodies of dead templars. “I never want to fight one of those again outside of a mission,” Nicolette panted. She turned to look at her friends. “Is anyone hurt?”

“No, but I think it would be- Da’len, Behind you!”

Nicolette whirled around just in time to see an arrow whiz towards her, striking her in the shoulder. Nicolette didn’t know if it was her, the archer who was quickly set alight by Solas, or both of them who were screaming in pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record, the group is starting to just accept her references to game dialogue and events if she mentions them. Not too many of them really give a crap.


	25. An Arrow to the Shoulder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She's been shot. And not even in a place she can make Skyrim jokes about.

“Mother pus bucket fart mongering warlock!”

Nicolette howled in pain at the arrow that was lodged in shoulder and held her upper arm as Cassandra and the group ran to her.

“Why? Why not the knee?! I could have made so many jokes at that!”

It burned. Was it supposed to burn?

“I think it was poisoned,” Solas observed as they held her still for him to examine. Varric basically soaked a numbing drought on the wound while Nicolette glared angrily at Cassandra. 

“I told you me saying something was a bad idea!” she seethed through gritted teeth.

“I’m starting to think she’s got a point, Seeker,” Varric agreed.

“This was just another bad coincidence,” Cassandra said.

“Oh sure when she saves your life from an assassin's poison and nurses you back to health, it’s providence. We get attacked by things she says aren’t supposed to be here, that’s coincidence,” Varric snapped.

“Wait what happened?” Nicolette asked in horror, the drought numbing her enough so she could focus on something else besides pain.

“You traitorous little shit!” Cassandra snarled. “How dare you mention something I told you in confidence that I didn’t want her to know yet?!” She lunged at him and they wrestled on the ground.

“There was no harm in her knowing and yet you didn’t want to say a word for no reason!” Varric said, scrambling from out beneath the Seeker’s grip.

“She would have worried! She thought it was a cold!”

“She deserved to know she helped save your life!”

“And you’re a big mouthed traitorous little-”

“STOP IT!” Nicolette screamed, causing the two to focus in her direction. “I wish you two would just stop acting like you hate each other and get along!”

The both stiffened, looked at one another and sighed in reluctance. Nicolette gritted her teeth as the wound began to pulse with pain. “It hurts,” she whimpered. “Take it out, Solas! Please!”

“I do not know if that is wise, Nicolette,” he said. “The poison might spread more if we remove the arrow. And moving you might be too dangerous.”

“But didn’t we bring any curing tonics or maybe some elfroot potions so I could get healed up?! I mean you know healing magic right?”

Solas shook his head. “None that is strong enough to counteract wounds that have been afflicted with poison.”

“Oh great! That means I’m gonna die! Slowly and painfully!” Nicolette sobbed and tears began rolling down her face. “I wish I could have noticed that archer fast enough to erect a barrier!”

She felt dazed for a moment and shook her head. 

An arrow pinged off the solid barrier erected around her and she heard the archer who fired it scream as he burst into flame.

Her mouth dropped open and she looked around very confused.

“That was close, Nicky. Are you alright?”

She didn’t have a clue how to respond to that question.


	26. No Star Or Birthday Cake Required

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you wish upon a star... you get a panic attack.

“You okay, Nicky?” Varric asked in concern.

“Um… I don’t know. I think I just rewound time somehow,” she said with a worried look.

“Come again?”

Nicolette looked at Solas. “That arrow I apparently just stopped, I got shot with it. In my shoulder. It was poisoned and I made a wish that I had seen it coming so I could have stopped it and apparently I just did.”

“That seems rather ridiculous,” Cassandra said.

“You and Varric were arguing and got into wrestling match about how you were almost assassinated and I helped you recover by taking care of you. And when the h-e-double hockey sticks were you gonna tell me that?!”

“Presumably never,” Varric answered as Cassandra glared at him. The Seeker then sighed. “I did not wish to worry you,” she explained. “Besides there was not yet a moment where it could be brought up.”

“Well now I know why you’ve been so happy to see me,” Nicolette said, her lips pursed thoughtfully. “I still don’t get how I saved your… oh crap.” Her eyes widened as she recalled those days. The first thing she’d said as Cassandra was vomitting:

_“I wish you would recover soon, Cassandra.”_

“HOLY JEEBERS CRABBUS! I have wishing powers!” she exclaimed with a horrified expression, putting her hands against her head. “Oh this is bad. This could be very bad!”

“Calm yourself, da’len,” Solas urged.

“You calm down!” Nicolette said. “Psychic abilities are one thing but this is the equivalent of being Q from Star Trek! Do you know how bad this could be?!”

Varric put his hand on her back to calm her down. “Take a deep breath and let it out,” he instructed and she did as he told her. While Cassandra looked at Nicolette curiously.

“What is Star Trek?”


	27. There's No Real Title For This One II: Even More Clueless for a Title

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I swear they will get to Dennet.

Nicolette was not going to explain what Star Trek was to Cassandra. In fact, she was going to ignore how she was now in a more difficult position. _Wait, maybe it’s a fluke?_ she thought. _I mean wishing powers don’t exist! That’s ridiculous!_

“But that’s what they always tried to tell me about my powers back in the other world and that was a bald faced lie!”

_You’re stuck in Thedas, Nicolette. In the Dragon Age universe. We’re borderlining on absurd with every breath you take!_

“That’s an amazing song. Sting had such a nice voice. Especially in that song Desert Rose, and when he was back with the band The Police. King of Pain, that’s what it was called. Oh for the love of- Why am I having a conversation with myself out loud again?!” Nicky threw her arms up in exasperation.

“I don’t know,” Varric replied, a wry smile dancing on his lips. “But I think I should have been taking notes.”

Solas chuckled. “I think you will find that the contents would have ended up being quite useless if used for a serious reference and believability.” Varric gave a resigned sigh and nodded. “But seriously, Nicky,” Varric said to her, curiosity dancing on his face, “do you really think you can just honestly wish for something and it will actually happen?”

“I honestly do not want to try to find out,” Nicolette assured him, her lips pressed together in a determined line. The thought of being able to wish for anything she wanted had her slightly disturbed. “Let’s just go see Master Dennet and secure the horses before I’m made to play spoiler girl again and we end up fighting a giant or something.”

“I still think you should-”

“No, Cassandra.”

“But it would be-”

Nicolette made a sound somewhere between hissing and hushing and held her finger up to her lips.

“You would-”

Nicolette put her hands over her ears. “I’m not listening! La-la-la-la-laaaaa!” she sang, doing her best impression of one of Alistair’s banter lines in Origins. Speaking of which… She took her hands off her ears and looked at Varric. “Hey, Varric, you know the story of the Hero of Ferelden, right? The one whom Leliana traveled with.”

He nodded. “Sure, most everyone does.”

“What happened to Alistair? Did he become King or did he stay a Grey Warden?”

Varric smiled and told her all about it. Alistair had taken the throne (Varric didn’t say if he had married Anora so Nicolette assumed that meant he ruled alone) and he’d been doing a good job ruling the country so far. Better than anyone had expected.

She loved it when cannon events happened. Not so much when they were happening to her and she could seriously fudge them up, but still: cannon was fun.


	28. The Importance of Knowing What To Do and How To Do It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the last chapter of the first part of the series. Nicky finally gets on a horse... and then proceeds to become injured.

About the third time she fell down trying to get her foot in the stirrups, Nicolette was very tempted to wish to be the greatest horse rider in existence. But that wish could backfire. Painfully. Much like her butt did.

Maybe she could -

“I will get on you, horsie! I swear it!” Nicolette hissed.

Cassandra suggested that they use the bench close by as a stepping stool but Nicolette shook her head. “That would be fine except I’ve got to get off this big guy sometime and I don’t think there will be any spare benches lining the area. Ow!”

“Perhaps one of us could get off our mounts and plant the watchtower markers once we arrive in the locations,” Solas suggested helpfully.

“Or,” spoke up Varric, “We could just get Nightingale's scouts confirm the areas you marked on the map and Curly dispatches soldiers to build them. You don’t need to do every one of these quests, Nicky. Let the Inquisition help you.”

Nicolette frowned. Varric had a point but it still felt like cheating. The game had had the Inquisitor do most of the footwork. Here in the real world she had more options. Better options. She let out a small whine and then sighed. “I really need to start thinking less in terms of following what the game dictated I should do,” she acknowledged, a little sad at this revelation. “But will the Inquisition’s power still grow if I do that?”

“I do not see how it would not,” Cassandra assured the blond girl. “Either by your hand directly or through your usage of our agents, the work will be done regardless. In the end, that is what matters.”

“So what you’re telling me is I should concentrate on being taskmaster more than a glorified gofer?” Their expressions were blank at her wordage and she sighed. “You know: a gofer? I go for this, I go do that? What would be the proper term for this era? Oh!” She snapped her fingers and waved them in the air. “An errand girl! That’s the term.”

They gave vague nods and Nicolette sighed before looking up at the Fereldan Forder Dennett had given her to ride. “It still doesn’t solve the problem of me not getting on this guy. Haven is about a day’s ride from here and unless you guys want to make the trip on foot or go fetch the cart from the cross roads for me to ride back home on, I still have to get on this horse!”

“Then here’s the deal,” Varric offered. “You use the bench to get on your horse. Solas can ride it once we get back to the crossroads and you can use the cart for the return trip back.”

Nicolette nodded in agreement and finally she was in the saddle.

Backwards.

She’d managed to get on the horse, but she was facing the wrong way.

“Okay, this is just getting ridiculous!” she declared and scrunched her face up with irritation written all over it. “First I can’t get on and now I’m in the saddle facing the exact opposite way I need to be! Oh well I’ll just turn around and-”

Nicolette fell. Hard. And from the pain and sound, she just broke her arm. Clearly the gods were not on her side this day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking around you guys! There is definitely more coming: we got Val Royeaux, meeting more people from her dreams, another visit to everyone's favorite Chuck E Cheese from Hell universe and more cannon divergent hi-jinks! Stay tuned and THANK YOU GUYS SOME MUCH FOR READING MY STUFF! Seriously the only way this could be better is if I was getting paid. You guys have no idea how much you mean to me and how grateful I am for all your feedback. Please stick around because it's gonna be a wild ride!  
> Also I want to give a shout out to my awesome beta and editor for this series Junnesejer! He's even helping me go back and fix up the previous chapters so everything will look even better.  
> *bows repeatedly*  
> Thank you. Thank you. THANK YOU!


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